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Headlines December 11, 2013

News

Capitol Hill’s budget deal is good news for the Pentagon. But it is unlikely to eliminate the need to set in motion long-term money-saving measures such as reducing troop levels, delaying weapons programs and making controversial cuts to military pay and benefits.

U.S. House and Senate negotiators settled on a $552.1 billion defense authorization bill for fiscal 2014 that would revmap how the U.S. military handles sexual assault cases and approve the Pentagon’s request for F-35 fighters.

Business

It has gone done in Pentagon lore as the “Last Supper;” a 1993 dinner party in which William Perry, then deputy U.S. defense secretary, told bosses of weapons manufacturers that post-Cold War budget cuts would force them to merge or go out of business.

Jamie Boling and her husband, Joseph, know that providing for a military family can be trying — waiting for orders, often living on a single income, and, in especially tough cases, supporting a spouse wounded in the line of duty.

Sixteen broken down transport planes that cost U.S. taxpayers at least $486 million are languishing among the weeds, wooden cargo boxes and old tires at Kabul International Airport, waiting to be destroyed without ever being delivered to the Afghan Air Force.

Bombardier is continuing talks with Air Canada about a possible order for the CSeries jet, the new model struggling with development delays, as the carrier nears its target for a decision on buying new planes.

The U.S. government lobotomized roughly 2,000 mentally ill veterans — and likely hundreds more — during and after World War II, according to a cache of forgotten memos, letters and government reports unearthed by The Wall Street Journal.

When Europe’s Rosetta probe gets roused from its deep space slumber next month, scientists are hoping it will wake up fit and ready for the final stage of its daring mission to land a spacecraft on a comet.

International

Costing £80 million the latest version of the Typhoon jet fighter will be capable of carrying a larger payload of weapons and an updated radar syste, while a larger fuel capacity should increase its operational range.

Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional strike and sees them as a “great equalizer” reducing the likelihood of aggression, a senior Russian official said Dec. 11.

Local military discounts

News: Pentagon chief mulls easing military enlistment standards - Defense Secretary Ash Carter is considering easing some military enlistment standards as part of a broader set of initiatives to better attract and keep quality service members and civilians across the Defense Department. Business: Lockheed pays $2 million to settle government overbilling charges - Lockheed Martin Corpor...

Landing mishap for military chopper; two aboard unhurt Two Navy officers were unhurt after their helicopter rolled on its side while landing in the Florida Panhandle. The mishap happened the night of March 27 at a Navy landing site in Pensacola, Fla. The Pensacola News Journal reports a pilot instructor and a student were able...

News General Dynamics withdraws as T-100 prime contractor General Dynamics Information Systems and Technology has withdrawn itself as the prime contractor on the T-100, the offering for the T-X trainer replacement program based on the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 design. Business SpaceX’s fight with U.S. Air Force called a clash of perceptions Billionaire Elon Musk’s...

Contractor extradited from Iraq pleads guilty in bribes case A man extradited from Iraq in a military contract bribery case has pleaded guilty to three charges in an agreement with federal prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Thomas Rose has scheduled sentencing for July 1 for Metin Atilan. His attorney, Nick Gounaris, says the two sides agreed...

News: Obama says more troops will stay in Afghanistan next year - President Obama March 24 formally abandoned his pledge to bring U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan down to 5,000 by the end of this year, saying the current force of about 10,000 will remain there into 2016. Business: U.S. special ops to sole-source 2,000...

Pentagon notifying U.S. troops named by alleged IS hackers The Pentagon said March 23 it is notifying 100 U.S. military members that their names and addresses were posted on the Internet by a group calling itself the Islamic State Hacking Division. The group said it was posting the information, including photos of the individuals, to...

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